Speaking to Digital Spy to promote The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Freeman talked briefly about his thoughts on the new series, which will begin with his character John Watson believing Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) to be dead.

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Asked whether he could see his incarnation of Watson fainting upon realising that his friend is alive, as he famously does in Arthur Conan Doyle's books, Freeman replied: "Probably not, no.

"I don't know, I think Mark [Gatiss] is writing the first episode, and again I've not seen that, I've not seen the script yet. But yeah... fainting might not quite cut it."